JANGAON : An investigation by the Jangaon Town Police has uncovered collusion between MeeSeva centre operators, private internet centres and cybercriminals to manipulate land transactions on the Telangana Bhu Bharati portal to cheat the state exchequer of crores of rupees.
Police arrested a MeeSeva centre operator from Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, taking the number of arrests to four. However, the first arrest in the case was a MeeSeva operator from Jangaon.
The case came to light after revenue officials flagged discrepancies in land transaction payments processed through the Dharani portal, now rebranded as Telangana Bhu Bharati. The portal, used for land conversion, sale and purchase, allows buyers and sellers to complete transactions online from anywhere in the state, a facility that investigators say was misused.
MeeSeva and private internet centre operators allegedly exploited gaps in the system by working with professional hackers over the past two years. In one instance in Jangaon mandal, the government reportedly lost `78 lakh in revenue over just four days. Officials noticed that a demand draft of `13,000 had been submitted against a land transaction valued at `8.75 lakh.
The discrepancy was reported to the Jangaon mandal revenue officer (MRO), who sought clarification from the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA) in Hyderabad. After the manipulation was confirmed, a complaint was lodged at the Jangaon police station.
Highly placed sources said the group allegedly hacked the Bhu Bharati database, which is linked to a mobile application used by revenue authorities. When farmers or landowners approached MeeSeva centres for land-related services, the operators allegedly coordinated with cybercrime gangs to alter the transaction amount on the portal and generate challans reflecting a much lower figure.
CCLA investigating scale of fraud
The altered challan was submitted to the revenue department, while the original amount was collected from the customer.
The cybercrime network is said to have charged around `10,000 per `1 lakh of transaction value manipulated on the portal. Special investigation teams have been formed and deployed across the state to gather details from the CCLA on the scale of the misappropriation. Four people are currently in police custody, and officials said it would take time to ascertain how many land transactions were affected.
Jangaon Collector Rizwan Basha Shaik told TNIE that the alleged malpractices had been reported to the CCLA, which would issue notices to buyers, sellers and MeeSeva centre operators involved.
“Once the CCLA clarifies how many transactions were routed through MeeSeva centres, action will be taken against those responsible. The state government is likely to recover the amounts from the offenders,” he said.
Jangaon Town Inspector P Satyanarayana Reddy confirmed that a case had been registered and investigation was under way.
Telangana MeeSeva Association president R Devender Rao said misuse of land transactions had increased after online access was extended statewide.
He appealed to the state government to restrict land-related transactions to designated MeeSeva centres within respective jurisdictions, arguing that this would make it easier to identify irregularities and take action.